Honeycomb foundation



NOV. 1931- a. D. c. CODI DINGTON 1,330,592

HONEYCOMB FOUNDATION Filed D80. 4, 1928 I IN ENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented .1931 1,830,592:

UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE,

HONEYGOMB FOUNDATION I Application filed December 4, 192a. se iaim. 323,528. g L

This invention relates to honeycomb and their utility is impaired if notdestroyed.

foundations adapted to be mounted 1n Such crumpled or bent sheets have stretched frames and suspended in beehives and, cells on one s de'(the outside) and contracted among other objects, aims to provide an 11nor closed cells on theother. Now, bees raise not sag or stretch or tear away from the enlarged cells. Hence, if a great many'cells foundation frame. are enlarge'd or stretched open in the founda- In the accompanying drawings, tion sheets,an undesirable number of drones Fig. 1 is a fragmentary face view, partly or non-workers will be propagated. 10 in section, of the preferred form of founda- It is thereforean important object of the 00' tion sheet; and present invention to provide a 'reenforced,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view honeycomb foundation that. will hold its taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing the shape and in which the wax will not crumple. sheet applied to a foundation frame member. or separate from the reenforcement under Heretofore, many attempts to reenforce ordinarytemperature conditions. Also, anwax foundation sheets have been made but other and important aim is to produce relaso far as I am aware they have not been entively thin sheets so that they can be made tirely successful. Such foundations are and sold at a low cost. usually made of relatively thin sheets of Referring now to the illustrated embodi- 2 beeswax which is quite expensive and applied ment of the invention, there is shown a rolled to wooden frames adapted to be suspended wax sheetlO having the ordinary hexagon in beehives. l Vithout sufficient reenforcecells or indentations 11 in the opposite faces ment, the sheets will stretch, sag, buckle or preferably produced by die rolls. The sheets tear loose during hot weather, because the are preferably made in long strips of stand 5 wax is softened and has very little tensile ard width and cut off in sheets of the desired strength. sizes, J

A relatively strong, wax coated textile Toreenforce the'wa'x foundation sheets in fabric has been tried. but found unsatisfacaccordance withmy invention, woven diatory because the indentations or cells will mond mesh wire 12 made of strands of small stretch opendue to the weight of the bees diameter, is incorporated within the cell and the accumulating honey. Further, the walls during the rolling operation to insure selvedges of the sheets where they are nailed that the strands will be completely'imbedded or secured to the frames crack or break so within the zigzag cell walls. As will be seen that the sheets easily tear loose or buckle. in Fig. 2, the strands of the wire are distorted 35 Moreover, it has been found that bees will or bentto lie parallel with cell walls so that not use the cells in such prepared cellular they will. not cross the cells. The distortions sheets, but will bore into the sheets perforatwill not stretch under the ordinary Weights ing and practically destroying the sheet in or strains to which theyare subjected. This their efforts to tear out the said fabric which arrangement of the strands also prevents 40 is objectionable to them in building their them from crossing theopen spaces in the own cells. cells so that the beeswill not'u'se them.

In an effort to obviate the foregoing diffi- Referring to Fig. 1, the wire reenforceculties, many experiments have been made ment is shown as havingflongitudinal selwith metal wire reenforcing elements pressed vedge strands 13 adjacent to the upper and into the formed cellular sheets by means of lower-edges of the sheet. These strands are star rollers and other devices. While such utilized to secure the sheetsto the usual frame wire reenforcements are self-sustaining, they bars 14 by means of tacks or nails 15 as are not wholly incorporated within the cell shown in Fig. 2. The diamond mesh wire is walls and, hence, the wax foundation sheets preferred because the strands are twisted to- I Will peel OH or crumple during hot weather gether and lie diagonally of the sheets so that proved reenforced foundation sheet that will workers in the normal cells and drones in the 55 are bentor distorted in the process of rolling the sheets Further, the

'sion on the sheets,

7 strands are twisted together.

all of them sustain the load. Thus, the tendue to Weight of the clingmg bees and honey, will be distributed throughout the strands between selvedge strands and the wire will hold its shape so that the nailed upper edges of the sheets will not tear loose. Such wire is usually woven with selvedge strands and the diagonal This arrangement provides distributed diagonal struts attached to selvedgesto. distribute the,reen-,

forcement. Moreover, the twisted meshes are easily imbedded in the waX- and-afi'ord supporting shelves to sustain the weight of the suspended wax foundation when it is heated and softens.

jltlwill thus be understood that. my iin proved honeycomb sheets can be made very, cheaply because the thickness needsto be only sufficienttogconceal the wire strands which can easily be applied toHt-heframes wit out using special cleats or the. like and without tearing or.

breaking the wax during the nailing or securing operation. Moreover, the cells will maintain their shapeunder the most severe weather. conditionsand willbe used by the bees to raise the valuableworkers instead of drones. i

Obviously, the present invention is not re-. stricted to the particular embodiment thereof herein shown and described.

lVhatIclaim is 1. A honeycomb foundation for beehives comprising an idented sheet of wax having fine woven wire wholly imbedded therein and presentinga longitudinal adjacent to one edge. of the foundation, said wire being so arranged that "the selvedge strand may be secured to and the tension will be distributed throughout the wire fabric.

2. A honeycomb foundation comprising a rolled, indented sheet ofwax having woven wire imbedded and concealed therein, said wire having selvedge strands adjacent to the upper and lower edges .of the sheet to sustain the weight of the sheet when said. edges are secured to a honeycombframe.

' 3.;A honeycomb foundationcomprising a rolled indented sheet ofwax having, adiamond mesh woven wire fabric imbedded and concealed therein, said wire fabric having selvedge strands a'djacentto the upper and lower edges of the sheet 'to sustain the weight of the sheet when said edges are secured to a honeycomb frame.

7 testimony, that 'I claim the foregoing as my wn,I have hereto affixedmy si nature; I GEORGE D. C; 'CODDI GTON.

strand or selvedge a foundation frame, 

